I always start off the school year focusing on connections – my connections to the students, their connections to me and the other in the class. Too many classes, all grade levels, begin the school year with getting down to academic business – starting to cover content, discussing expectations regarding academic requirements, giving tests, and other academic information provided by the teacher to the students in a mostly one-way communication. The human or social element is often disregarded.

I want students to learn about one another in a personal way. I want to learn about my students so my instructional strategies can be more personalized and tailored to their needs and interests. Beginning class with a focus on connections rather than content gives learners the following messages:

You are the focus of the class not me.

You are important as a learner in this class.

You will be expected to engage in the learning activities during class time. You will be an active learner.

You will be expected to do collaborative learning during the class time.

I, as the class facilitator, will be just that – a facilitator. I will introduce the learning activities, but you will be responsible for the actual learning.

By far, the most valuable activity for me is the Student Interest Survey as it provides me with so much information about each student in such an easy format. With 25 students in the class, it would have taken me months to learn all I did using the following Google Form.

The results of the survey, which follow, provide me with so much valuable information. I discovered their passions, aspirations, dreams, and even some fears. For example, I found out their career aspirations: pathologist, mechanical engineer, police officer, orthopedic doctor, electrical engineer, doctor. veterinarian, architect, actress, civil engineer, professional racer for anything with a motor, teacher, interior designer, photographer, nurse, writer, artist, dancer, music producer, singer psychologist, forensic scientist, neurosurgeon. This information will assist me in planning activities based on their interests.

]]>https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/starting-off-the-school-year-its-about-the-learners/feed/0jackiegersteinLetting Your Learners Experience Productive Strugglehttps://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/letting-your-learners-experience-productive-struggle/
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/letting-your-learners-experience-productive-struggle/#respondSat, 13 Jul 2019 16:40:56 +0000http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/?p=17606I came into teaching through a non-traditional, backdoor route – through a graduate degree in counselor education and through being an adventure therapist, whereby I took at-risk youth on extended wilderness trips. There have been a plethora of lessons I learned through these experiences that have served me well as a teacher.

As part of my counselor training, we were taught to not try to take away a client’s pain or struggle; that they often need to experience these struggles in order to move forward. My role during client distress was not to try to take their pain away but to offer my presence, listening skills, and being a witness to their stories.

As an adventure therapist, the youth often had a difficult time during wilderness activities such as rock climbing, rappelling, and the wilderness solo (spending 24 hours alone). Many become scared and wanted to give up. My role during these times was to encourage them and not let them give up. The results of successfully completing these activities that seemed unsurmountable were feelings of accomplishment; an increase of positive self-esteem.

This often seems contrary to being in a role of a helper, either as a counselor or as a teacher. Being a helper translates into wanting to take away the struggles and pain of others. The paradox becomes in that by allowing our clients or students to work through their pain and struggles, it helps them to grow.

Productive Struggle

In 1910, John Dewey described learning as beginning with a dilemma—an uncertainty about how to proceed. Struggling to work through uncertainty and ambiguity to discover a solution was, for Dewey, essential to meaningful learning. Struggling and persisting in the face of uncertainty is finding its way back into prescriptions for good classroom practice. Advocates for meaningful struggle recommend that teachers avoid telling students how to solve problems. Instead, teachers are urged to allow students to wrestle with a problem and try to solve it themselves.

Engaging students in productive struggle is a challenge for teachers as well as the students. It takes time, persistence, and some experimenting to plan rich learning opportunities that challenge but don’t frustrate students. Activities need to stretch students’ thinking and performance just beyond the level they can do on their own. Struggle works and does not frustrate when students have the knowledge and tools to tackle novel problems—ones they’ve not seen before, and are just beyond what they’ve already learned and mastered.

Another crucial teaching role in productive struggle lessons is providing timely assistance. When a challenging task opens a productive-struggle zone, the teacher’s judgment is again critical. Success depends on teachers recognizing when a little timely assistance sustains student persistence but does not prematurely terminate productive struggle and learning.

Getting the right balance can be difficult. For teachers accustomed to avoiding student struggles, there is temptation to intervene and help students get the right answers. To do so runs the risk of turning the activity into the classic recitation-style lesson—turning students into passive receivers of knowledge and teachers into “tellers.” (Beyond Growth Mindset: Creating Classroom Opportunities for Meaningful Struggle)

Maker Education and Productive Struggle

I’ve been integrating maker education activities into my gifted classes for the past several years. The ill-defined tasks that often characterize maker education create situations whereby my learners often struggle. In fact, I’ve had 6th grade boys cry due to this. Being gifted, they’ve developed a school history of being able to quickly and successfully the tasks given to them so when given tasks they can’t do easily, they become distressed.

I also teach summer camps with a maker education focus. This past week I taught Toy Making and Hacking to 2nd through 6th graders. Many of them struggled and due to these struggles quickly exclaimed, “I can’t do this.” This occurred mainly during theToy Take Apart and Repurposing and through makingWiggle Bots.

Assisting Learners With Their Productive Struggles

First and foremost, I let them struggle. Second, I say to my learners who struggle and want me to fix it – do it for them something such as:

I know you can figure it out.

I won’t do it for you. I have faith that you can do it.

You got this.

Take as much time as you need. There is no time limit.

Why not try for ___ minutes? If you don’t get it by then, I’ll help you.

What steps can you take in order to be successful?

Why not ask a classmate how they worked on the problem?

You might want to try something different.

Finally, I do offer and give help to those who have struggled and are reaching high levels of stress.

In order to prevent STEM and maker education from becoming a flavor of the month, there needs to be specific strategies provided to educators on how to embed STEM and maker activities into their curriculum. A good number of educators have not received training on how to integrate activities into their classroom practices which entail resource heavy, hands-on learning.

One of the elementary schools where I work is going to implement maker education this coming school year. In a discussion with the principal and a small number of teachers, we realized that some of the teachers will be resistant due to their lack of experience with the activities, resources, and tools related to maker education, and frankly, their fear of doing something as foreign as maker education.

A key to increase their comfort with and chances for implementing these activities is to provide them with professional development opportunities, but the PD needs to be designed based on research.

Professional Development

Teacher professional learning is of increasing interest as a critical way to support the increasingly complex skills students need to learn in order to succeed in the 21st century. Sophisticated forms of teaching are needed to develop student competencies such as deep mastery of challenging content, critical thinking, complex problem solving, effective communication and collaboration, and self-direction. In turn, effective professional development (PD) is needed to help teachers learn and refine the instructional strategies required to teach these skills. (Effective Teacher Professional Development).

The Learning Policy institute examined rigorous studies that have demonstrated a positive link between teacher professional development, teaching practices, and student outcomes. They discovered that not all professional development experiences are equal and that effective PD has specific characteristics. Their findings included:

Active learning provides teachers with opportunities to get hands-on experience designing and practicing new teaching strategies. In PD models featuring active learning, teachers often participate in the same style of learning they are designing for their students, using real examples of curriculum, student work, and instruction.

Curricular models and modeling of instruction provide teachers with a clear vision of what best practices look like. Teachers may view models that include lesson plans, unit plans, sample student work, observations of peer teachers, and video or written cases of accomplished teaching.

Effective professional development provides teachers with adequate time to learn, practice, implement, and reflect upon new strategies that facilitate changes in their practice. As a result, strong PD initiatives typically engage teachers in learning over weeks, months, or even academic years, rather than in short, one-off workshops (Effective Teacher Professional Development).

After attending the New Mexico Computer Science week whereby engineering college students acted as mentors for the participating teachers, I realized that having experts in the classroom working directly with educator can be a great form of professional development. In this case, it was the engineering college undergraduates but it could also be trainers from STEM-related organizations or other educators who have developed their STEM instructional practices. This model has the potential to discuss the properties of effective professional development discussed above. Mainly, educators would be able to see STEM and maker instructional practices being modeled.

Benefits

Directly observing how the expert interacts with their content and with the learners.

Experiencing the benefits of team teaching – pairing a content expert with an education.

Learning how to troubleshoot when the activities don’t work as planned.

Assisting both the educator and their learners to see failure as iteration and growth opportunities.

Getting to see how learners respond to the hands-on experiences . . . often with excitement and engagement.

Implementation Suggestions

Some suggestions for implementing this form of professional development follow. It obviously is just a beginning.

Train expert mentors in interacting with learners using hands-on activities.

Train and plan meetings between educators and mentor experts making sure that they include collaborative and active learning strategies.

Needs to occur over time through multiple sessions – not a single time experience.

Include educator reflection and follow-up as an integral component of the professional development.

An Example

The Northern New Mexico STEM Mentor Collective, funded by NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) seeks to raise aspirations and expectations in Middle & High School STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics by training and planting (in local schools and libraries) a paid STEM Mentor Corps comprised of caring, exemplary NNMC (Northern New Mexico College) undergraduates

Even though it is designed to bring Engineering undergraduates into the classroom to provide young people with mentors, I contend it could also be used to help educators learn how to implement STEM and maker education activities. I am planning to work with my principal this coming school year to help develop this as a model of professional development.

The Game Jam was developed for and offered through the Santa Fe Public Schools’ SAGE (Services for Advanced and Gifted Education) Program although any school or youth group could enter. The game categories were: Board, Card, Action, and Video games. The criteria used to judge the games:

The contest was conceived and developed by Steve Heil – Santa Fe Public Schools Gifted Program Support Specialist. For more information, contact him at sheil@sfps.k12.nm.us.

I encouraged my 5th and 6th grade gifted learners at one of my schools to enter the video game category. I scaffolded instruction (described below) but they created their story narratives, storyboards, and video games.

Introduction to Story Narratives

They were introduced to world and character through the following Pixar in a Box video.

Learners used Storyboard That to create the storyboards for their video games.

Storyboard That is a graphic organizer and storyboard creator . The program provides pre-made scenes, characters, text boxes, shapes, and other images to choose from, Students are able to drag and drop these items into their chosen layout. Scenes are organized into locational and thematic categories (e.g. school). Characters are organized similarly and can be customized with hair color, eye color, and other edits. Text boxes allow the student to give voice to their characters. Shapes and additional images add props to the story. (https://www.edsurge.com/product-reviews/storyboard-that-product)

It was continually reinforced that their storyboards needed to include strong characters, settings, and plot.

Video Game Creation

To help them make their decision about which platform to use, they were asked to do tutorials offered by each of these platforms. Two of the teams selected MakeCode Arcade and one of the teams selected Scratch. The MakeCode teams were able to create their characters using the pixel image creation function, and the Scratch team created their characters using this platform’s drawing tool.

Video Overviews

As part of the game jam submission procedures, learners had to record a video overview. Here are their video overviews:

]]>https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/game-jam-creating-a-video-game/feed/0jackiegersteinShoe Design Projecthttps://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/shoe-design-project/
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/shoe-design-project/#respondThu, 23 May 2019 19:04:15 +0000http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/?p=17467As the final project of the school year, I asked a group of my gifted 4th through 6th graders to design and prototype a new type of shoe. In a recent post from Idea U, Why Everyone Should Prototype (Not Just Designers), Chris Nyffeler, IDEO Executive Design Director, discussed the purpose and value of prototyping:

When we say prototype, that’s anything that gets the idea in your head into an artifact people can experience and offer feedback on.

You use prototyping to process the ideas themselves and to help you think through the idea better.

It’s not that you process your idea and then communicate it through a prototype. You actually use prototyping to process the ideas themselves and to help you think through the idea better.

Keep early prototypes quick and scrappy. By starting with tools that are familiar to you and easy to use, you can quickly create something tangible that will allow you to gather feedback and learn what’s working and what’s not.

Videos for Inspiration

After being told about their task – to design a new type of shoe with new and unique features, learners were shown the following videos for inspiration:

Writing a Description of Shoe Characteristics

Learners were asked to begin their design process by writing about each of the following:

Age Group?

Gender?

Kind of Shoe (e.g., athletic, fashion)?

Special Features?

What follows are some examples of their descriptions:

Creating a Shoe Design Sketch

Learners were asked to begin prototyping their shoe designs by sketching them.

Front, Side, and Bottom Views in Color

Special Features

Materials Used (they were asked to do online research on the different types of materials that can be used for shoe construction.)

Creating a Logo

It was the learners’ idea to create a logo for their shoes. One of them knew about an online logo creator at https://www.freelogodesign.org/ which they all used. Here is one of them that impressed me. He worked a long time fine tuning it.

Learners began creating their design with the cardboard template adapted the template to better match their sketches. We ran out of time to complete this part due to the school year ending.

Option 2 – 3D Model Using Google Sketchup

Some learners attempted to create their 3D designs using Google Sketchup – https://app.sketchup.com/app?hl=en. This is the free version so there was limited functions but the learners enjoyed experimenting with it.

Reflecting with the Creative Product Assessment Rubric

As part of their gifted program, learners complete quarterly assessments. For the final quarter, they use the Creative Product Assessment Rubric.

Adapted from Creative Product Analysis Matrix, Besemer, 1984

An Example

Product Name: Ixploz, v.1Product Description: Athletic ShoeProblem or Need Statement: To make an athletic shoe that is comfortable and relaxing.

In grade 6, O. reviewed his product, Ixploz, an athletic shoe, using the Creative Product Assessment Rubric. The CPAR assesses novelty, resolution, and style as factors of creativity. This product scored 3/5 for novelty, 3.8/5 for resolution and 3.6/5 for style. Averaging the factors, it scored 3.5/5 overall, accumulating 52/75 possible points.

Strengths Noted: It looks nice and it is comfortableQuestions: If made in real life, would it be successful?

]]>https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/shoe-design-project/feed/0jackiegersteinI Have a Dream: Authentic Learninghttps://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/i-have-a-dream-authentic-learning/
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/i-have-a-dream-authentic-learning/#commentsSun, 05 May 2019 18:34:49 +0000http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/?p=17494I wrote a post earlier this year entitled, Authentic Learning Experiences. Some of the characteristics of authentic learning I identified are summarized in this graphic:

The Task

Learners, 4th through 6th graders in my gifted education language arts class, were given the task of composing and then recording their own I Have a Dream speeches.

Writing Their Speeches

They then wrote and published their I Have a Dream speeches on Kidblog. These were projected as each learner read her speech. Their peers offered feedback about both the content and the mechanics of grammar and spelling with changes made accordingly. Here are some of the edited examples:

Recording Their Speeches

An authentic learning experience offers learners choice and voice. In this case, students were offered a choice of recording their speeches as part of a video in front of a green screen or by just making an audio recording. Half chose the green screen and the other half chose the audio recording. The videos were recorded using my iphone, the audio recordings via Quicktime on a Mac. Their recordings were uploaded to iMovie. All students were asked to add photos to their recordings. They added images found at Unsplash, over 850,000 free (do-whatever-you-want) high-resolution photos by the world’s most generous community of photographers (my favorite online tool for finding and using images). Learners took turns editing their speeches and their final video follows. Note their different styles and as mentioned earlier, reinforces student voice and choice.

]]>https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/i-have-a-dream-authentic-learning/feed/2jackiegersteinPi Day: An Example of an Interdisciplinary, Engaging Lessonhttps://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/pi-day-an-example-of-an-interdisciplinary-engaging-lesson/
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/pi-day-an-example-of-an-interdisciplinary-engaging-lesson/#respondSun, 31 Mar 2019 16:39:18 +0000http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/?p=17453I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students for multiple years. At my one school, I have them in class for a full day each week, and each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days and I love watching how 100% are fully engaged for the entire time.

Pi Day Activities

The day consisted of the following activities:

Digital Breakout

Making and Decorating Pies

Book: Sir Cumference

Measuring for Pi

Kahoot Pi Games

Standards Addressed

Common Core Math Standards:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.B.4
Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1
Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10
By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

ISTE Standards for Students:

Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

21st Partnership for 21st Century Skills:

Collaborate with others

Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams

Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal

Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

Digital Breakout EDU – Pi Day

So what is this about Digital Breakout EDU games? Simply put, it’s taking the same concept, but turning it all digital. Participants are given a one-page site that includes text, images and links to clues, some of which may be misleading. There is a Google Form embedded on the page where you submit your answers to a series of “lock” questions and each lock will immediately tell you if you’re successful (http://wordpress.barrow.k12.ga.us/21stcenturytips/?p=6989).

To start off our Pi day activities, students did a Pi Day Digital Breakout EDU game.

They needed to follow the recipe which included figuring out the directions and using measurements. After the pies were made, they decorated them with Pi symbols.

Sir Cumference

The students then were shown a reading of Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) by Cindy Neuschwander:

Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this geometry-packed math adventure. King Arthur was a good ruler, but now he needs a good ruler. What would you do if the neighboring kingdom were threatening war? Naturally, you’d call your strongest and bravest knights together to come up with a solution. But when your conference table causes more problems than the threat of your enemy, you need expert help. Enter Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius. With the help of the carpenter, Geo of Metry, this sharp-minded team designs the perfect table conducive to discussing the perfect plan for peace (https://www.amazon.com/Cumference-First-Round-Table-Adventure/dp/1570911525).

Pi Kahoots

Using Kahoot wasn’t planned for the day but the students asked for it. I love that they ask for learning tasks. The Kahoot quizzes made and submitted by other teachers make it so easy to use them spontaneously. Here are the two Pi Kahoots I did with the students:

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests (Division for Sustainable Development Goals, n.d.).

Assignment Goal:

In order to develop a solid background about the definitions and intent related to the Sustainable Development Goals, you will do research using the resources below and/or from your own research.

State and National Content Area and Literacy Standards Addressed:

Common Core State Standards – ELA

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Common Core State Standards – Math

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.ID.A.3
Interpret differences in shape, center, and spread in the context of the data sets, accounting for possible effects of extreme data points (outliers).

21st Century Goals

Use 21st century skills to understand and address global issues

Learn from and working collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions, and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work, and community contexts

Understand other nations and cultures, including the use of non-English languages (Battelle for Kids, n.d.).

The Atlas draws on the World Bank Group’s World Development Indicators, a database of more than 1,400 indicators for more than 220 economies, many going back over 50 years. It also explores new data from scientists and researchers where standards for measuring SDG targets are still being developed. Data are critical for decision making and accountability. Ultimately, the purpose of managing data in this way is to produce measurable results— improved resilience to economic, environmental, and humanitarian shocks; more jobs and opportunities; and improved education, health, nutrition, and gender equality—while leaving no one behind (World Bank Group. 2018, p. 9).

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs)

Learn about the 17 SDGs, get news on your favorite goals, find out what you can do how you can take action to help achieve them, create your own events actions and invite others to join you in sustainable actions and events (GSMA LTD, n.d.).

Types of Journaling:

Response journals create permanent records of what readers are feeling and thinking as they interact with texts. A response journal allows students to record their thoughts about texts and emotional reactions to them. Teachers may use prompts to trigger students’ feelings and thoughts about a subject or may invite students to respond freely to what they are reading and doing in class. Prompts include questions, visual stimuli, read-alouds, or situations created to stimulate thinking (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2017).

You will have a choice of two types of journals and/or a combination of both:

A Double Journal Entry

A Sketchbook

A double-entry journal (DEJ) is a versatile adaptation of the response journal. As the name implies, DEJs allow students to record dual entries that are conceptually related. In ­doing so, students juxtapose their thoughts and feelings according to the prompts they are given for making the entries. To create a two-column format for a DEJ, have students divide sheets of notebook paper in half lengthwise (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2017).

Another option for journaling is through sketchnoting and the use of a sketchbook:

As an introduction to the sketchbook, the class discusses reasons for keeping a sketchbook, which the teacher adapted from a model used by McIntosh (1991):

What should you include in your sketchbook? New ideas, sketches, concepts, designs, redesigns, words, notes from class, drawings to show understanding, reflections on the class, questions that you have, and new things you’ve learned.

When should you include entries in your sketchbook? (1) After each class; (2) anytime an insight or a design idea or question hits you; (3) anytime, so keep the sketchbook handy and visible in your work area.

Why should you draw and write in your sketchbook? (1) It will record your ideas you might otherwise forget; (2) it will record and note your growth; (3) it will facilitate your learning, problem solving, idea forming, research, reading, and discussion in class.

How should you write and draw entries in your sketchbook? You can express yourself in sketches and drawings; in single words, questions, or short phrases; in long, flowing sentences; in designs and redesigns; in diagrams, graphs, and overlays; or in colors.

Remember, the sketchbook is yours, and it reflects how perceptive you are with your ideas and how creative you are in your thought processes (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2017).

Sketchnoting is gaining more popularity and builds off of the sketchbook method of journaling.

World Bank Group. (2018). Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2018: From World Development Indicators (World Bank Atlas). World Bank Publications.

]]>https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/03/24/sustainable-development-goals-writing-journals/feed/0jackiegerstein2019-03-24_1021twitter-card-atlas20182019-03-24_13342019-03-24_14122019-03-24_0927Making a Pitch for Social Entrepreneurshiphttps://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/making-a-pitch-for-social-entrepreneurship/
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/making-a-pitch-for-social-entrepreneurship/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 20:50:13 +0000http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/?p=17433I have done a social entrepreneurship unit with two groups of gifted students, grades 3rd through 6th. It was one of my favorite units . . . ever, and from their reactions, I believe it was one of theirs, too. I call it a perfect STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) unit – see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2018/05/13/elementary-social-entrepreneurship-a-perfect-steam-lesson/ for more information about this unit.

The purpose of this post is to expand on this notion of social entrepreneurship to assist learners in developing a pitch as if they were promoting their product or service to potential funders on a show like Shark Tank for kids.

Standards Addressed

Framework for 21st Century Learning

Financial, Economic, Business, and Entrepreneurial Literacy

Know how to make appropriate personal economic choices

Understand the role of the economy in society

Use entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options

Common Core State Standards – English Language Arts

Students employ technology thoughtfully to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use. They tailor their searches online to acquire useful information efficiently, and they integrate what they learn using technology with what they learn offline. They are familiar with the strengths and limitations of various technological tools and mediums and can select and use those best suited to their communication goals.

ISTE Standards for Students

Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

Why Social Entrepreneurship

First, even though the “why” may not be part of their pitches, I want learners to know the whys and whats of social entrepreneurship. The first step of this lesson will be to have them review articles and videos on this topic, and compose a short summary in their own words that defines social entrepreneurship. For example, it can include:

A definition of social entrepreneurship is the act of creating a venture or business that can help solve social problems or benefit society. For children, this can mean creating things to sell, providing a special service, or organizing an event to earn money for a cause, resulting in what many experts call “social value” (Young Kids Need to Learn About Social Entrepreneurship).

Directions Given to Students

As part of your social entrepreneurship challenge, the pitch you are developing for your social entrepreneurship business, you will need to demonstrate evidence of researching:

The meaning and intent of social entrepreneurship, in general.

Successful social entrepreneurship ventures of young people (under the age of 18 and at least one from a culture other than a white, United States citizen),

Viable goods or services which your company plans to sell,

How to create a budget,

Possible nonprofit organizations or causes to whom you would donate the profits.

People pitch a business because they need resources. If the goal is to raise startup cash, the target of the pitch is an investor. Other businesses pitch to potential customers to sell their product. Finally, some organizations pitch because they need a partner or resource to help them accomplish their mission” (Business Pitch: Definition, Types & Importance).

Your team’s presentation should be a 5 to 8 minute pitch for your social entrepreneurship startup which includes information about the product to be sold, the social cause that will be addressed, marketing plan as well as clearly explains what your company does, why it’s unique, and how it serves your customers.

Your presentation should include a visual component in the form of a slide deck that showcases at least two of the following:

Physical computing means building interactive physical systems by the use of software and hardware that can sense and respond to the analog world. Physical computing is a creative framework for understanding human beings’ relationship to the digital world. In practical use, the term most often describes handmade art, design or DIY hobby projects that use sensors and microcontrollers to translate analog input to a software system, and/or control electro-mechanical devices such as motors, servos, lighting or other hardware (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing).

. . . but as with all use of educational technologies, I believe that it should be used intentionally to assist learners in developing and expanding their content knowledge and life skills.

Development of Learning and Innovation as Well as Career and Life Skills: Physical computing activities should be designed to help learners develop skills as identified as by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.

Learning and innovation skills are what separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world and those who are not. These skills include: Creativity and Innovation; and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.

Today’s students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and emotional competencies to navigate complex life and work environments. P21’s essential Life and Career Skills include: Flexibility and Adaptability; and Initiative and Self-Direction (Partnership for 21st Century Learning Framework and Resources).

Relevant and Authentic Learning: Physical computing is often perceived by learners of all ages are relevant to their lives especially with the current push towards learning STEM and coding.

Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life. Students work towards production of discourse, products, and performances that have value or meaning beyond success in school; this is learning by doing approach (Authentic learning: what, why and how?)

Learner-Centric – More of Them; Less of Us:At its heart, maker education and physical computing is about centering around the learner. Children and youth are natural learners—imaginative, curious, exploratory testers of theories and creators of solutions. When children and youth have educational experiences that allow them to fully occupy the educational space and are supported by adults who trust their innate abilities and contributions and are given the guidance, they grow confident in their abilities (At its heart, maker education is always about centering the learner).

Direct instruction is provided through structured and prescribed activities with the goal of learners then being able to eventually go into self-determined directions. My contention is that learners often don’t know what they don’t know; and that giving them the basic skills frees them to then use their creativity and innovation to take these tools into self-determined directions

Open-Ended Challenge: As stated above, learning is scaffolded but even with more structure projects as described in this post, they are still open-ended enough for learners to integrate their own talents, interests, and skills into the projects.

Note about using Makey Makey and Scratch 3.0

All of the following projects utilized new Scratch 3.0 along with their new extensions: Makey Makey and Text to Speech.

I adapted the directions for their brain operation game from https://iamclaudius.com/makey-makey-operation-game/. I gave them an outline of the brain with lobes outlined for them to color and rubber cement onto a pizza box (see video below). For their brain parts, I gave them air drying clay. They were asked to create parts that represent the functions of the individual lobes, e.g., eye for occipital lobe, mouth for temporal lobe, a ball for the cerebellum, etc.

They were then asked to code their games using Scratch. Here is the example I used to get them started: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/283935140/editor/. I instructed them to include, for each lobe, its name and some kind of pun about its function.